On the recordSeptember 26, 2016
I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) for his unwavering work for the care of our veterans. And to the chairman, as has been noted so often, at a time when partisanship seems to win the day or be on the news, I can assure him that the care of our Nation's veterans knows no political boundaries, and the work that has been done should be noted. I also want to thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Young) for bringing this bill forward. Like everything in life, there is a symmetry to things, and I think the story of how we got to this point might be well spoken or told. The gentleman represents the Third District of Iowa, the new one. Back in 2006, there was a young Army Reservist named Joshua Omvig, who grew up in a small community in Iowa, literally down the road from where they filmed ``Field of Dreams.'' He returned from Iraq a week before Thanksgiving in 2006 and joined his family at that most American of all holidays to be back together. That evening of Thanksgiving, Joshua took his own life in front of his mother. The crushing loss of a son, the crushing loss of a son of the Midwest was overwhelming. But the Omvigs did something that Americans do and something that this Nation always does. They turned their grief into action. They went to their Congressman at that time in the old Third District, Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Boswell, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran and helicopter pilot.…
